Support group for grandparents who do not see their grandchildren, for whatever reason

Iain Stewart Milton Keynes South MP offers GranPart his support & becomes a Patron for the group.

Click on PR page for full story.

There are many grandparents who, due to circumstances very often beyond their control, never get to see their
grandchildren.

The reasons can vary considerably. It can be due simply to a falling out amongst family members,
sometimes the parents of the children have divorced or have simply moved a long distance away.

In other more serious situations parents of the children involved may suffer drink or drug related problems,
the children may be removed for safety reasons, in some cases fostered, meaning grandparents have no legal access to their grandchildren.

The support group
was first formed following a difficult situation I found myself in when it was made difficult for me to see my grandson.

Things came to a head soon after his first birthday and I had no contact for nearly three
years.

When I started sharing my situation with other people it soon became clear that I wasn't alone, and that many other grandparents were
suffering similarly, and like me they found it difficult to share what they were going through with other people who were not suffering.

GranPart is designed simply to give
grandparents who are going through this difficult time an opportunity to meet others in a similar situation. In an informal environment we chat and share experiences and can be empathetic and
supportive to each other.

In an effort to promote the group and encourage new members GranPart set up a table in the Grosvenor shopping centre Northampton.

It was good to see people who had seen the advert for the event coming along to find out more.

On Friday August 17th South Northamptonshire Council Chairman Richard Dallyn came along to our meeting at Manning Watts House.

After listening to the group, we explained our plans on promoting GranPart in order to gain greater awareness. Richard was able to offer
advice based on his previous experience working in the media.

Northampton MP offers
support

We were delighted to welcome Andrew Lewer, Member
of Parliament for Northampton South, to a recent meeting at Manning Watts House.

Andrew has picked up the baton from his
predecessor and has shown his support when speaking at the recent Westminster debate. He mentioned the good work GranPart are doing to support grandparents and help fight for grandparent and
grandchildren's rights.

Over the past few months GranPart have been involved with the Waitrose Community Matters Green Coin
Scheme.

Coins collected earned us £245 from the Towcester store and a fantastic £427 from Oakgrove store in Milton
Keynes.

WESTMINSTER HALL DEBATE

Click on image above to watch the debate.

On the 2nd May 2018 a debate was held in Westminster Hall when Nigel Huddleston, MP for Mid
Worcestershire, moved a motion that the House considered grandchildren's access rights to their grandparents.

t is not the first time that this issue has been debated in the House of Commons. A similar debate took place about a year ago.
Unfortunately, because of purdah rules close to the election the then Minister was unable to give the full response as expected.

The debate featured many MP's talking aboutconstituentswho have visited them at thier surgeries with stories
ofgrandparent alienation.I

Northampton MP Andrew Lewer and our patron Iain Stewart MP mentioned the great work Granpart is doing to support members
oftheir constituencies.

Following on from the debate Nigel Huddleston wrote in his August newsletter
'I also met with Justice Minister Lucy Frazer to reiterate my calls for action to be taken
to improve grandchildren’s access rights to their grandparents. This meeting was a follow-up to the Westminster Hall debate I led on the issue earlier this year and I was pleased to hear that
the changes to legislation I proposed in the debate are being considered by the Ministry of Justice. I am still receiving correspondence from families across the country who have been denied access
to their grandparents or grandchildren and I will continue my lobbying efforts on my return to Parliament in September'.

Lobby Day at Westmister 31st January 2017

The day started early for me as I was asked by 3 counties radio to talk about what we were hoping to achieve. (click to
listen Media)

I attended Lobby day accompanied by Iain Stewart MP who is Patron of my group. The aim of the day was to raise awareness amongst politicians
of the desperate need to recognise the rights of grandparents.

The law does not presently convey an automatic right to grandparents to have contact with their grandchildren.

At present grandparents, must firstly get over the hurdle of applying to the court for leave (permission), then if such leave is given they
will formally apply to see their grandchildren for what is known as "a child arrangement order".

Solicitor Vanessa Lloyd Platt, a passionate supporter of changing the law, spoke to the group along with Dame Esther Rantzen another long
term supporter.

Lynn Chesterman OBE said there will be a petition and hoping to get 100,000 signatures.

She wants to see the application for leave of court abolished and that children should have the right to see their grandparents and that
children should be the main priority as grandparents play such an important role in a child’s life.

Dame Esther was impressed at the loyalty shown at the event by the number of grandparents in the room.

She had 238 testimonials from when she appeared on the One Show a few years ago with Jane Jackson from the Bristol grandparent group and
she read a couple out which were all too familiar stories of most people in the room. She refers to the fact that this loss is a living bereavement. In France they already have automatic right and do
not have to apply to the courts.

She touched on the fact that yes you can take this to court but at a cost a very expensive one at that.

Vanessa is a grandmother of 3 and extremely passionate about grandparent’s rights as she has lots of clients that come to her for
advice.

She wants the application for leave of court abolished, as we are behind the times with this and children should have the right to see their
grandparents. She will not stop pushing this till this law is changed. She went on to say that even when you apply for a child arrangement order it is not always successful and so that is money not
well spent.

In 2010 MP’s looked into making changes but no change was ever made. However, after today’s event hopefully MP’s will discuss it and put it
in the manifesto.

There are many reasons why grandparents are denied access but we still should remember family loyalties and respect.

Rabbi David Mason supports a group from Hendon and he quoted the 5th commandment “Honour thy Mother and Father” which says it all really.

Lynn Chesterman did the summary of the discussion and said this WILL go to the policy board and in the next manifesto for the next
election.

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